PTI struggles to reach consensus on ‘date’ of Islamabad siege

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) could not agree on a date to close the federal capital since the party’s decision-makers decided to change the date of its protest in Islamabad.

According to party sources, PTI’s top leadership were meeting on Monday during a party core committee session where they would join their heads to decide whether to freeze Islamabad on November 2 or 3.

Sources close to PTI revealed that a majority of the members wanted the sit-in on November 2; however, a final decision was due today.

Earlier, PTI’s siege was planned for October 30 but then the party decided to change it by a day or two.

Apparently, the party changed its early decision for two reasons: First, due to Muharram and second, the previous date was falling on a Sunday, which would impact the protest.

The Chairman PTI Imran Khan has already clarified that this time, the siege of the federal capital would continue until the resignation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Meanwhile, Shaikh Rasheed of the Awami Muslim League (AML) invited Imran Khan to address party supporters from outside his Lal Haveli in Rawalpindi, which the Chairman PTI has accepted.

Khan would address a rally in Rawalpindi on October 28, sources told ARY News.

Panamagate and protest

The Chairman PTI had launched Ehtesab (accountability) Movement in the country against the governing PML-N.

Initially, Imran Khan demanded a probe into the health of the elections 2013, which his party thinks were rigged.

Later names of several Pakistanis including Nawaz Sharif’s children Maryam, Hussain, and Hasan surfaced in one of the world’s biggest ever data leaks through an online searchable database made public by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in April 2016, following which the prime minister had formed an inquiry commission to probe his family’s alleged links to offshore accounts.

Unfortunately, the federal government and the opposition could not agree on drafting joint terms of reference (ToR) for the, which would probe Panama Papers Leaks.

However, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) failed to conduct investigations into the case.

The Chairman PTI later announced to go for a street agitation, demanding Nawaz Sharif to step down as the premier of Pakistan.